Twitter launches phone-based password alternative for the web

Twitter has announced the release of its Digits password alternative for websites, reports ZDNet.

Twitter has announced the release of its Digits password alternative for websites, reports ZDNet.

Digits, which was released last October (reported by We Live Security here) for iOS, Android and mobile web, allows users to log into apps, services and now websites, using just a phone and a one-off password.

Digits is a white label product, not directly affiliated with Twitter, and allows developers to use it as an alternative login by just dropping in a single line of code. Indeed, The Next Web explains that “unlike using Facebook Login, that ties your Facebook account with an app or service, Digits is completely separate”.

Users looking to use Digits on the web will still need to set up an account on a iOS or Android app, but once completed, visiting the app’s site could be done from the same phone number attached to the app. Impressively, if a user logs in using Digits to one site, and has signed up to others, they won’t have to login again. Digits will ask customers if they wish to use it the first time they visit.

Back in October, Michael Ducker, a senior product manager at Twitter claimed that the inspiration for Digits was the desire to ‘get rid of the password’: “I go to dinner parties and people say ‘Oh, you work in tech? Can you get rid of the password?’ and we’re finally getting rid of the password, for the vast majority of use cases.”

Digits is part of a series of tools created by, but separate from, Twitter: Fabric is a set of mobile development tools, and Crashlytics tracks crashes. “As the platform grows, you won’t think about Twitter as just the consumer app,” Kevin Weil, Twitter’s VP of product for revenue told The Verge. “You’ll think about Twitter as a broader mobile services company.”